No new taxes proposed in Maharashtra's Rs 600,522 cr interim Budget

Maharashtra Finance Minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday presented a Rs 600,522 crore interim Budget for 2024-25 with a revenue deficit of Rs 9,734 crore in the state legislative assembly here.

The Budget proposed no new taxes. A supplementary Budget (full Budget) will be presented after the Lok Sabha elections, Pawar said.

With projected revenue receipts of Rs 498,758 crore and revenue expenditure of Rs 508,492 crore, there will be a revenue deficit of Rs 9,734 crore, said Pawar, who joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government as deputy chief minister in July 2023. He was finance minister in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government too.

School Education Minister Deepak Kesarkar read out the Budget in the Legislative Council. "The Budget focuses on the implementation of welfare schemes for the youth, women, the poor and farmers," Pawar said in the assembly. The government aims to expand the state's economy to USD 1 trillion through sustainable, environment-friendly and inclusive development, he said. In the Annual Plan 2024-25, an outlay of Rs 1.92 lakh crore has been proposed which includes Rs 15, 893 crore for Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Rs 15,360 crore for Tribal Development Sub Plan, he said. The government has succeeded in keeping fiscal deficit and revenue deficit within the limits set by the Fiscal Responsibility and Financial Management Act, Pawar said. The fiscal deficit for 2024-25 is projected at Rs 99,288 crore. An outlay of Rs 18,165 crore has been proposed for District Annual Plan, a 20 percent increase over the previous year. A scheme would be brought in to provide pink auto-rickshaws to 5,000 women in ten major cities, Pawar announced.

Maharashtra received Rs 8,618 crore as Goods and Services Tax compensation in the current financial year. An amount of Rs 7,057.73 crore has been sanctioned as interest-free loan for 50 years under the 'Scheme for Special Assistance for Capital Investment'.

Six Vande Bharat Express trains have commenced services in Maharashtra while a provision of Rs 15,554 crore has been made for railway projects in the state in the interim Union Budget, Pawar mentioned.

An amount of Rs 22,225 crore was being raised for the Virar-Alibag Multimodal Corridor, Rs 10,519 crore for Pune Ring Road and Rs 2,886 crore for Jalna-Nanded Expressway for land acquisition, he said. In Konkan, three of the nine major bridges on the coastal highway between Rewas to Reddi have received administrative nod and tenders are being floated, the finance minister said. Land acquisition for Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train project is almost complete in Maharashtra, he noted. The work of the Navi Mumbai Airport is progressing speedily and the first phase will be operational by March 2025, Pawar said. The first instalment of Rs 1,691.47 crore has been provided as grants to 84.57 lakh farmer families under the Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi Yojana announced in the last Budget, he said. Insurance amount totalling Rs 2,268.43 crore has been paid to 50.01 lakh farmers under the 'One Rupee Crop Insurance Scheme' in 2023 Kharif season. An All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will be set up at Aundh, Pune, on the lines of AIIMS, Nagpur, the minister said. The annual health cover under the Mahatma Jyotirao Phule Jan Arogya Yojana -- the state's health insurance scheme -- was increased from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per family and the number of hospitals covered was increased from 1,000 to 1,900 in the current fiscal, he said. The government is planning to set up 15-bed day-care modern chemotherapy centres in all the districts, and dialysis centres will be made functional in 234 rural hospitals where such centres are currently not available. A hearse each will be made available in every taluka, Pawar said.

The government will roll out a sustainable tourism policy, and theme parks, adventure sports, shopping malls, water parks and accommodation facilities will be provided at 50 newly identified tourist destinations. To promote tourism in the Konkan region, 32 'Shiva-kalin' (Shivaji-era) forts will undergo revamp/conservation. 'Maharashtra Bhavan' guest houses will be constructed in Srinagar and Ayodhya to provide facilities to visitors from Maharashtra, the minister said. Local authorities have provided land at prime locations for these guest houses for which a provision of Rs 77 crore will be made, Pawar said. Proposals will be invited from global architecture firms for the redevelopment of Mantralaya, the headquarters of the state government, under the 'Mahavista' project, he said.